Many Internet users today connect their computers to the Internet over their telephone lines. As more information and services are available over the World Wide Web on the Internet, users spend more time connected to the Internet and thus occupying their telephone lines. If an Internet user has only a single telephone line, callers trying to reach such a user can encounter a busy signal for extended periods of time. Available Call Waiting services that typically allow a subscriber to answer an incoming call from a second party while conversing with a first party cannot be used while a user is connected to an Internet call. The Internet connecting software requires that the call waiting service be temporarily deactivated. Thus, the user is unaware of the incoming call.
Some systems today allow a user to view information about an incoming call when the user is connected to the Internet. Such information, however, is often limited. Information about the incoming call is often unavailable because the caller is out of the user's area or the caller has disabled the identification function. To answer the call, the user must disconnect from the Internet, and the call may turn out to be unimportant relative to the user's Internet session. Or, the user may use an answering service to prompt the caller of the incoming call to leave a message. The user will be unable to review, however, the incoming message until some time after the Internet session is discontinued.
Thus, there is a need for a system that addresses the above-mentioned problems.